# Access to Information Day: what a family can know about a session
URL: https://rver.pt/blog/acesso-a-informacao-o-que-a-familia-pode-saber-da-sessao/en/
Date: 28 September 2026

"What did my mother see today?" It is a simple question. It deserves an answer better than "I don't know".

The International Day for Universal Access to Information is on 28 September. It is a UNESCO day, built around everyone's right to know what concerns them.

In a healthcare institution that right takes a very concrete form. A son arrives at the care home in the late afternoon and asks: "what did my mother do today?". If she had a virtual reality session, the answer should be more than "she had the headset on".

## What gets recorded

With RVer, every session leaves a record: when it happened, how long it lasted and what was watched. It is simple information, and that is the point.

The record **does not assess the person, does not score them and does not diagnose**. It says what happened, not what it means. The clinical reading (whether the session went well, whether it is worth repeating) belongs to the team, who were in the room.

## Explaining without promising

The temptation, when talking to a family, is to embellish. "It did her a world of good", "she was a different person". Sometimes that is true in the moment. But a sentence like that, repeated, turns an activity into a promised outcome.

What you can say safely is more useful: where the person "went", for how long, how they reacted while the team watched. "She asked to see the sea again" tells a son more than "it did her good".

## Who can see what

Session data belongs to the person who had the session. Access follows the same rules as any other health information in the institution: the person, or whoever legally represents them, has the right to know what is recorded about them, under the GDPR.

What the institution decides is the workflow: which team members consult the records and how information is shared with families. It is worth deciding before the first question is asked, not at the moment it is.

## One simple rule

If the family asks, you answer. With what happened, said clearly, without hiding anything and without embellishing. That, in the end, is access to information: not a form, but an honest conversation at the end of the afternoon.

Q: What is recorded in an RVer session?
A: When it happened, how long it lasted and what was watched. The record does not assess, score or diagnose.

Q: Can the family access the record?
A: Access follows the institution's rules for health information and the GDPR: the person, or their legal representative, has the right to know what is recorded about them.